Since we started the school construction
work in 2016, we have been putting the children in class in incomplete
classrooms, without doors, windows or plastering and sitting on mats for their
lessons. This has been necessary because
of the rapid expansion of the school and the huge and urgent need for the
education of children who would otherwise have no hope for the future. Our needs always outstrip our fundraising.
To reassure you all, this is not unusual
here in South Sudan. In fact our school
is luxurious compared to some schools, in which children simply sit under a
tree for lessons.
In my last post I mentioned that the
London Oratory is currently fundraising for desks and chairs for Cece Primary
School. This is a big step forward for
us. The intention is to have all our
children off the floor and sitting at proper desks so that they can work in a
better physical position. Up until now,
as mentioned, our children have been sitting on mats on the floor, which is not
good either for their posture or for their handwriting.
 |
| Primary 4 at their new desks. |
The first batch of desks was ordered after receiving the first installment of funds. The desks arrived this week and are in the Primary 4 classroom. As you will see from the photos, they are very good quality. The locally available wood is mahogany, so we have desks that will last. Everybody is delighted with them.
 |
| Our new desks with a view of the empty doorway and window. |
However we realized rather belatedly that
there is now an urgent need to keep the classroom where the desks are placed secure
against the huge number of thieves in the Nimule area. We therefore also needed to order and put in
place a door and windows to protect the desks.
Then we will need to fairly rapidly put in doors and windows in all the
other classrooms ready for their desks to arrive. This is a big problem for us.
Our construction work on the new
classroom block has absorbed a lot of our money and there is, of course, the
ongoing need to pay salaries to the teachers and cooks and buy any necessary
teaching materials.
Coupled with these regular needs, Far
Reaching Ministries (who supply our food free of charge each week) have been
delayed in bringing food for the first few weeks of term due to a sudden and
unexpected demand for meals from other schools who were previously fed by an
NGO which has now stopped its feeding programme. Most other schools gave up completely and did
not reopen for lessons after the school holidays. However, because of the extreme poverty of
our children and their need for education, we decided to do our best to keep
the children fed and in class. This has
meant that we have had to provide food for nearly 200 children for three weeks
which has been an unexpected expense for the school. We have been told that the FRM feeding
programme will restart next week, which will be a great relief to us.
I am asking for your help to enhance our
funds so that we can install doors and windows in all classrooms and continue
our building work. At the moment,
construction on the new block of classrooms has had to be put on hold due to
the factors mentioned above. We need to
finish the work. As you will see from
the photos, there isn’t far to go.
If you are unable to help yourself, maybe
you could circulate this blog post to all your friends. I can assure you that the money sent is
always well used, for the benefit of the most needy children in the community. Our school criteria is for children from
families with HIV/AIDS, disabilities and orphans. The children are from many different tribes,
local and national. Many are from
families displaced from other areas of South Sudan by the ongoing civil
war. Other schools in the area are all
fee-paying, which makes it impossible for these children to receive an
education elsewhere, leaving them doomed to a life of grinding poverty and lack
of education.
Please let me know if you are able to
help by email so that I can send you a gift aid form. Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk
.
No comments:
Post a Comment